The Magic of Venice
by Silmelinwen
Summary: This is a spinoff of the Thief Lord, I've gone back in time to when Hornet was but a seven year old child, and have created her story as to how I would like it to have shaped.


Caterina scurried from under the piles of junk and dilapidated materials; the water had risen to her chin. Gondolas and emergency boats were hurrying towards the people caught among the ruins of the flood. An officer scooped up the little girl of seven or so, and plopped her into the boat.

"Mamaaaaaaaa!" she cried throwing her cold, blue hands into the air. "My mama is under the water, go and get her!" she demanded tearfully of the officer in the boat. The officer smiled sympathetically at the little creature.

"Sorry baby, we lost your mother."

"When will we find her?" Asked Caterina, "She knows not to hide under water." She was fairly hysterical.

The officer stroked the girl's hair, knowing she didn't have any idea of the concept of death. But nothing the officer did would calm the girl. As the boat sped off to where the flooding grew easier, and the winds weren't deafening, Caterina's emotions grew intense, and her cries became more deafening. After hours of sitting in the boat, they were able to find a paddock of wood, which was barely flooded. Stepping out of the boat Caterina felt wobbly, uneasy, and sick.

"I could only find this little one among the Grimani ruins. The mother is undoubtedly drowned." Caterina looked around, she noticed there were many other officers, and survivors of the huge flood. She also noticed that she was one of the few children, who didn't have parents clinging to her with relieved expressions.

"What'll we do about the orphan children?" Asked a second officer.

"Take their names, the ones under 12 can go to the Children's Home."

The second officer began rounding up the children whom they had found without parents. Then they had to follow him onto another boat, which was to take them to the Children's Home. Caterina looked around and saw she was not the only one, who was scared, and without a mama. Slowly the rocking of the boat lulled her to sleep.

Shaking the girl's shoulders, an hour later, the officer woke Caterina.

"You will all be escorted to your new home, follow me, don't get lost."

Caterina attempted to keep up with the officer, but her small frame, and tired body wouldn't permit her to. A boy of about 10 was walking behind the tiny thing.

"Angelique!" he cried racing up to her, and enveloping her in a hug. Caterina was startled, and pushed herself away from the boy. He looked at Caterina, and immediately flushed red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, I lost my little sister, and I guess I was tired, and thought I was seeing her in front of me instead of you."

Caterina's pale face gave a weak little smile, "I lost my mama too. The police are going to find them for us." The boy began to tear up.

"No sweetie, they aren't going to come back. I wish they could. But they're dead."

"What's dead?" Asked Caterina.

The boy froze for a moment. Should he tell this little angel what death was? Or should he lie to her. He thought for a moment, and said.

"Dead, is when something hurts you and you close your eyes and go away forever, or when you get really old, and you go away forever."

Caterina didn't comprehend, "Where do you go to? Can you go to London forever when you get dead?"

"No, you go to the sky, where there is a palace made up of clouds. And that's where you live forever and ever, but you can't go visit the people you left behind, you can't talk to them again."

Caterina finally showed some acknowledgement to the boy's feeble explanation, "You mean, I'm never going to talk to my mama because she went to the sky?"

The boy nodded.

"Why! Why didn't she take me with her! I want my mamaaaa!" The boy lifted the sobbing child onto his shoulder and whispered in her ear, "One day, we'll see them again, but we have to wait. You'll meet my sister; I can meet your mama. But we can't make ourselves dead because if not we'll be punished, we have to wait for god to tell us when to be dead." The boy's childish explanation settled Caterina down.

"I can be your little sister until you see your real one again. I'm Caterina." The boy smiled,

"I'd like that very much, I'm Luca." Then he started to run, with the little girl snuggled in his arms, to catch up with the rest of the children.

Once the officer reached a pair of tall iron gates, with pointy bars, everyone stopped. The children shivered thinking of the ominous building, which stood before them. Caterina held fast to Luca's shoulders. Luca hugged her closer to tell her it was going to be all right.

"Children I leave you in the care of our dignified, Signora Editta." With that the officer left.

Signora Editta smiled unconvincingly at the children.

"Well, you have had a rough journey, the dormitories are upstairs on the left, and you will be given two sets of clothes which you will find have been placed on each of the beds. We wake up each morning at 5, you will eat breakfast, and then you will either go out back and stay out of sight, or go to your dormitories… and stay out of sight. At promptly 3:00 clean up begins, you will have assigned chores, this will go until 8:00. At 8:00 the children fewer than seven eat supper and go straight to sleep. Those older than seven continue clean up. At 9:00 those children under the ages of ten but over age seven eat dinner and go to sleep. Finally at 10:00 my 11 and 12 year olds eat dinner, do the dishes, and go to sleep…. Now get out of sight."

Luca carried Caterina upstairs to the dormitories. He found two pairs of rough shirts and shorts laid out on one of the beds, he took those and put it on the bed where he sat Caterina down. Caterina held up one of the plain green dresses, the other was brown. They both looked as though they were made of potato sacks.

"Luca, when I was little my mama used to make me beautiful dresses, my favourite one was a dark blue, it was so soft, it had ribbons all over it, and I wore it every holiday. It had a ribbon in the back that my mama tied into a bow for me, and I'd play I was a princess."

Luca grinned at the angel's young fantasy. "I'm sure you WERE a princess."

"I'm going to pretend!" cried Caterina, "I will pretend, that I was a stolen princess, and they put me in a dungeon, and now I have to wait for my prince to come rescue me. Luca, you're going to be my prince, okay?" Luca nodded solemnly. He walked to the other end of the room, where there were many more children weeping at the loss of their parents, or coughing from colds. But he had one objective in mind; he had to rescue the princess. So running towards Caterina, he mimed fighting an evil dragon, which made the girl shriek with delight. He pretended to cross an unstable bridge, which had metal stakes under it. But finally he got to the fair maiden.

"Beautiful Caterina, I have come from afar to rescue you, your majesty." Caterina sat up straight.

"Prince Luca, I have sat here sadly a long time waiting for you, and you came!" Jumping into his arms, Luca swung the girl around. Both collapsed onto the squeaky cot Caterina was due to sleep on that night. At 3:00 the clean up bell rang. All the children who were at the Children's Home before the flood knew what this meant and quickly hurried to report downstairs. The orphans of the flood followed suit.

Signora Editta gave instructions as to what they were to do. Caterina was handed a heavy pail of water and lye, and a large sponge. She staggered off to clean the floors of the dreary room. Setting the pail down, she got on her knees, and immersed the sponge into the lye, her hands immediately felt raw, and her little cut on her pinky finger began to burn. Quickly she dropped the sponge, and murmured a little, "Oww." Slowly she brought the sponge to the floor, and began to drag it along the hard wooden floors. Somehow the room seemed so much bigger than its normal size when she was faced with the laborious task of scrubbing it up. Her long black hair seemed to just graze the floor. By the time she was mid way done with the room, her knees were black and blue, her eyes burned from the stinging smell of the lye, and she ached all over. She paused to take a small rest. Shutting her eyes she slowly lowered herself to the floor, and before she knew it, she was fast asleep, thumb in mouth.

Signora Editta walked out of the kitchens, and was just about to pass the main room, when she spotted the sleeping beauty.

"Wake up child, and finish your job!" came her command. Caterina awoke, startled, "Mama?" She asked uncertainly.

"Your mother is dead girl, you better learn that now. You have no one, learn to live for yourself."

Caterina's eyes widened to the point where it looked as though she were a thin bug with popping eyes.

"I have a new brother." She said nonchalantly, with a tinge of hurt.

"Keep dreaming, orphan." Then Signora Editta left the room.

That night Caterina couldn't sleep. She kept thinking of her mother. Her mother whom she had disobeyed so many times, whom she had laughed with, or whined to, played with, and loved. Gently she stroked her hair, her mother used to put her hair in a long braid down her back every morning, and say, "Caterina, your hair is so lovely in that beautiful shiny braid." Then she'd put a ribbon at the bottom of it.

Finally Caterina drifted to sleep once more. The next morning, when Caterina woke up, she felt an itch in her throat, her head throbbed with pain, and her frail body shivered in fever. Signora Editta was peering down at her with a thermometer held in hand, and a frown plastered to her face. Caterina let out a violent cough, which could be heard through out the entire Children's Home. Opening her eyes, she saw bloodstains on the pillow her head was lying on. She tremblingly brought a finger to her lips. She felt the blood trickling out of her mouth from the cough.

"Call the hospital, Pietra." Nodded Signora Editta to one of the maids. Pietra left, and returned quickly, "They said they'd be here soon. And to get the girl ready to leave."

Caterina could decipher from her feverish state that she was going to be sent off to a hospital of some sort.

"Luca." She whispered through cracked lips, "Where is Luca?"

"He can't come with you." Came a stern voice from somewhere.

Once the doctor's boat arrived, they piled a wrapped Caterina into it. She kept softly crying, "Nooooooo." And resisted with as much force as her ill body permitted her.

At the hospital, she lay on a hard white gurney, medicines being shoved down her throat, and needles being stuck into her hot feverish skin. She kept saying things in her sleep, and kicking around unable to find a position, which did not cause her pain.

All night the nurses tried to silence the parched lips of the child, which all too often cried.

"Luca! Mama. No Luca, don't go see your sister, you can't leave me! Mama, who will do my braid? The dress itches mama, why is it so ugly? I can't be a princess without a braid, or a nice dress."

"Shh, she's waking up." Said a nurse. Upon gazing up at the nurse, the nurse smiled gently and said,

"Good morning sweetie, you've been out of it for an entire week. Nice to see you've come around, we didn't think you'd make it."

Caterina looked at the nurse,

"If I didn't make it, I would have seen my mother, and been happy. She lives in the sky, now."

"The doctor is going to be here to take your temperature, and blood in a little while. Here now that your fever is gone, you've started to sweat again. Let's get your hair off that rosy forehead."

The nurse's soft touch on Caterina's hair reminded her of her mother.

"Make a braid." Said Caterina. The nurse made a loose braid. It wasn't quite the same thing as her mother's, tight glistening braids, but the comfort of having one helped Caterina immensely.

Less than a week later Caterina was situated back in the Children's Home, walking, and healthy. Her first question,

"Where is Luca?" Signora Editta sniffed as though a disdainful odor were under her nose.

"Luca is an ungrateful scoundrel who ran away." Caterina's head began to throb again, "you're lying." She said. But she knew, Signora Editta had no reason to lie.

"How could he leave me!" She cried quietly that night. "I have no one!" She looked out of the window; the bars seemed loose, as though there had just been a break out not long ago. Quickly Caterina wrapped her sheets in a bundle, inside she stuck her two dresses, and a match she had taken upon first arriving at the Children's Home. Striking the match against the wall, she was careful not to let the miniature flame die out. She one handedly shook one of the twelve-year-old boys awake.

"Whosere." He grumbled. Caterina whispered,

"Shh, wake up, and help me, Or I'll stick this match on your face." The boy scrambled out of bed,

"Whaddya want?"

"Help me out the window, and throw my bag down." She said, shoving her bag at his chest.

Tip-Toeing towards the window, she quietly inched the bars upwards, and opened the window. She gazed down; she couldn't just drop herself out the window without hurting herself. She made the boy gather his sheets, and hold onto one end, while the other end waved around outside the window. Trembling with fear, Caterina held firmly to the sheet, and slowly descended, finally she let herself drop. The boy then threw her belongings out of the window, and mouthed to her, "Good luck, little girl."

Caterina ran to the gates of the school, still being so small, she squeezed through the bars. She had no idea where to go to search for Luca. Being on the streets at night was something scary for the seven-year-old girl. She touched her braid; she had left it in from when the nurse had done it. She began to question herself as to how smart it had been to leave the Children's Home. But then she knew she had to find Luca.

She jumped, so startled. She saw a shadow of a boy, but with the face of a bird. As the shadow got closer, she backed away. "Don't be scared." Came the voice. The voice relaxed her. Finally she saw the boy standing before her, he removed his mask so she could see the face. A boy two years older than her, it appeared, stood before her.

"Hello Little Hornet." He said to her.

"I'm Caterina…" the boy cut her off.

"No, I shall call you Hornet, you look like a little hornet." Caterina smirked; two could play at that game.

"And I shall call you Thief, you look like a little thief all in black."

"But you are right, I am a thief, a clever one too. Come live at my hideout. I have others I found just yesterday, sleeping there right now."

Following the Thief, Caterina knew her life would change forever. She would now be known as Hornet.

"dadooo, ladiddle, aidee, coo." Said Thief into a hole, and then turning to Hornet he said, "That's our password, memorize it." Hornet heard the scampering of children running to the door. The children looked each in turn, at the girl standing before them. Hornet surveyed them. One looked like a hedgehog with very bad teeth, he was about a year younger than her, maybe six years old. The other looked like hot chocolate syrup, maybe about a year older than her.

"I'm Riccio." Said the Hedgehog.

"I'm Mosca." Said the black boy.

"And I haven't been able to introduce myself properly." Said Thief, "I am Scipio, people call me the Thief Lord. Riccio, Mosca… this girl over here is Hornet."

Hornet drummed her fingers against her knees. Now at fourteen years old, she had never seen another trace of Luca again. She had long forgotten the blonde boy she had vowed she'd find.

"Lidee, midda, laddeannndelay" said the Thief Lord.

"Coming!" said Hornet. The Thief Lord entered.

"Hornet I have a job only you can do… only because you're the thinnest one so you can slip through the bars... well Riccio could do it too, but… he's a klutz" Finished the Thief Lord as though to say, 'If I were as small as you, I could do it better.' Hornet gave an impish grin, as she knew exactly what the Thief Lord was thinking.

"I need you to slip through the bars of Barbarossa's shop, get his accounting files. I want to see what prices he's selling the stuff I'm stealing for him. With this we can demand more… hopefully." Hornet nodded silently.

That night she quickly raced to Barbarossa's shop. Quietly slipping through the barred gates, she looked around to see if the shop had an alarm. Noticing one by the doorway, she picked up a stick from the wet cold floor, and pushing the small button on the alarm, shut it off. Now inside the store, Hornet froze. Barbarossa was snoring noisily on hi desk, his face on top of his account book. She shuddered at having to move the man's head off the book. Slowly she pushed his head sideways off the book, praying he was a heavy sleeper. She whisked the book away, and tip toed out the shop. Once outside, she reset the alarm, and ran back to the theater. Her braid flew behind her, and she knocked into a person. Looking up she saw a most handsome boy, clutching the hand of another small boy with golden curls.

"Sorry." Said the boy.

"It's okay." Said Hornet, "You look so tired, and the little one looks ill, you should come to our hideout, we've got some heaters." The boy looked at Hornet with gratitude in his eyes.

"I don't want to be a bother…" Hornet cut him off,

"Let's go." She led the two boys to the theater.

"Thief Lord!" she called.

"Password!" Cried Scipio.

"Forgot it… Come on, you know it's me!" She said.

"Fine." He swung open the door. He gazed at the two new boys standing next to Hornet.

"Who are these two?" Asked the Thief Lord gesturing to the boys. Hornet opened her mouth to say something, but the little boy cut her off.

"I'm Bo, and that's my brother Prosper, we call him Prop." Whether it was the adorable chubby cherub face of the younger boy, or the needy hungry look in the older boy's eyes, Scipio smiled and beckoned them inside.

"I'm Scipio, known as the Thief Lord…. I'm the greatest thief around." He said in a braggart tone. Slowly the rest of the Thief Lord's clan introduced themselves. Then Scipio turned to Hornet.

"The files, Hornet?" he questioned. Hornet took off her newsboy cap and produced the crinkled papers,

"Hope they please you." She said, in a neither subservient nor sarcastic manner. Scipio took the papers from Hornet and set the in his cape for him to review at his leisure at a later time.

Meanwhile, Hornet took the opportunity of Scipio placing the papers away, to go and talk to Prosper. He was a handsome boy, brown hair, which curled towards the edges, strikingly dark eyes, and paled smooth skin. She had grown up with boys for the most part of her life, but when she sat next to Prosper, everything felt different. She even talked to him differently than she would to Scipio, or Mosca. When she smiled at him, it would be a nervous grin, her voice seemed higher than usual, she giggled more often, and she kept wringing her hands beneath the table. This feeling was so wonderful, and awfully overwhelming, she had no idea what to do with herself. So she proceeded to serve Prosper a glass of water. He politely took it, and drank it silently. His silence perturbed her. Did this mean he did not like her? Or was he simply too tired to speak? The little boy mind you, had captured Hornet's admirations in a completely different way. He sat on her lap as she recounted stories of brave knights and dragons. Bo fell asleep on Hornet's shoulder, as she quietly carried him to a small cot they had stored for emergency use. When it seemed Prosper was too sleepy to stand another minute, she gently asked him,

"Let me show you to where you can sleep." She took him by the hand, leading him to her own bed. She would sleep on the floor, but it hardly mattered to her, as there was something warming and magical about this boy's presence. After she let go of his hand, she felt a slight tingle with in it. Happily she fell asleep on the cold floor.

Riccio, glanced at Mosca and asked,

"Is it just me, or is Hornet behaving weird." Mosca replied,

"She seems like she's a little dazed."

"I suspect she likes the new boy is all." Riccio seemed contented with his reply.

The very next morning Hornet woke up, she shook Mosca, and Riccio awake as well.

"Help me get breakfast together." She said sternly. Riccio glanced at Prosper,

"And him?"

"He had a tiring journey, and should be left to sleep."

Grouchily, Riccio took two slices of bread, and slapped them on the plate; he cut them into eight pieces. Hornet, then spread an almost too thin layer of butter on each piece, and matched each slice with another, creating miniature butter sandwiches. Then she took the three plastic cups, and two china glasses, and filled them with water from the spout in the back of the theater. The water shone brightly in the cups. Then as a refining touch, she took the paper flowers out of the crystal vase the Thief Lord had stolen, and placed them in front of the spot where she deemed Prosper would sit. She then went to wake Prosper and Bo. She did this much more gently than she had ever done to Riccio and Mosca.

"Morning Prop." She whispered into Prosper's ear, "I've made breakfast, the heater is running so it will be lovely warm once you step out of bed." She then guided Prosper into a sitting position. He thanked her quietly. She then went to wake up Bo, whom she found didn't need waking up, as he was already bouncing up and down on his cot greeting the new day.

"Good morning Bo." She smiled at the angel face grinning up at her. She carried him off the bed and plopped him into a chair next to Prosper's. She took the opposite chair from Prosper so she could clearly see the boy.

"Umm, Riccio, the Thief Lord left you a message this morning. You're to go trade in the items for no less than two hundred." Riccio looked taken a back,

"But you know how hard it is to squeeze money out of the batty-beard man." Bo then jumped up proclaiming Prosper knew exactly how to pawn items for good prices. At that moment the Thief Lord walked in.

"Can he?" as Scipio.

"Why of course!" Answered Bo. Prosper tried to look modest, but went on his way with Riccio to pawn the items. Meanwhile Hornet and Mosca were left to tend to their new boarder, and tidy up the place.

Less than an hour later, Riccio and Prosper came bounding back into the theater. Riccio was grinning with glee, and babbling nonsensically,

"I still don't get it! How did you do it?"

Prosper merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Hornet found Prosper's modesty extremely appealing, and took this as an excuse to pat his back in appreciation,

"So you really wormed five hundred out of Barbarossa?"

Prosper gave another slight nod. Looking around he added,

"Well you must not have been doing so badly before I arrived, it looks magical in here."

"I think it is." Whispered Hornet, as though telling a secret, "It holds my whole existence… or most of it." She said, a quick flash back of a blue party dress appearing in her mind, and then another of a huge, cold, stony school. She was whisked back to the present by the gentle tap of Prosper's fingers against her hand,

"Are you all right?" he inquired a puzzled and alarmed expression on his face.

"Oh um, nothing…" She said.

Prosper looked skeptically at her, "Are you sure, you look kind of distant for a moment." Hornet wondered if she should tell this handsome new boy her whole life story, things she hadn't even told Scipio. She looked into his eyes, and saw complete sincerity, and warmth in his eyes. So walking to her cot, she sat down on it, and patted the space next to her gesturing for Prosper to take a seat. He did so, the cot sank a little beneath their concentrated weight pushing them closer together so that Hornet's right side, and Prosper's left side met.

"Well I had lovely parents, my mama she'd turn my hair into a braid every day, but then during a great flood… you know how floods are in Venice, we're practically all water, anymore… we just kind of drown. Well My mama was drowned, I was scared, around seven years old, and I felt dizzy. I felt the house filling and crumbling from the water. I got caught under two segments of wood, the water kept rising as I struggled to climb out, and finally I did. I found my way out of that pile of wood. I looked around expecting to see my mama, but I didn't. All I saw was a great police taking me away. Then I met this boy Luca on the way to the orphanage, he became my brother in pretend, but I truly believed it then. He helped me so much, he made me feel better. But then I got sick, and when I was sick he ran away… so I ran away when I got better, and well… Scipio found me and brought me here." Hornet breathed a sad sigh at this point, "And, I've wanted to find him since." She looked up at the ceiling, and back down at her feet. Prosper remained silent for a minute, and then inched his arm in a comforting manner around Hornet's shoulder. Hornet felt immediately warm, and safe beneath his arm.

"I know, I lost my parents too… That's why we're here, Bo is supposed to be living with my aunt, but I couldn't bare to hand him over to her, as they would separate us. So we came to Venice, my mother's favorite place in the world, because everything is magical." The words spilled from his lips, each as though they were a smooth cream colored pearl. They made Hornet feel even closer to Prosper, she embraced each pearl which fell, and made them form a chain so to always remember his words. Silently she leaned her head against his shoulder, and he fingered her braid,

"We'll find Luca." Said Prosper, in a way that made Hornet so confident in him. Hornet nodded slightly, rubbing her head against his shoulder.

All of a sudden, Riccio burst through the door, then paused, seeing Hornet and Prosper leaning on each other, in a way which could not be mistaken for friendship. Hornet and Prosper jumped apart at the sight of Riccio.

"Oh, um, I have a request, for you guys to go deliver these to Barbarossa." He pulled out two small, dense packages.

"What's in them?" Asked Hornet.

"Don't know." Riccio shrugged his shoulders, "All I know is you have to get them delivered."

"Okay, okay." Hornet took the packages from Riccio.

"Come Prop, let's go you and me. Riccio can stay behind and care for Bo." Prosper agreed, and followed Hornet out the theater.

They walked silently, until Prosper said,

"The magic of Venice will keep us safe. I can sense it. We'll find Luca, if you really believe in its magic."

Hornet smiled, and slipped her hand in his. She felt herself going a little red at the cheeks, but Prosper gripped her hand even tighter in reassurance that she needn't be embarrassed. Walking a bit further, Hornet pointed out different sections, shops, and people of Venice.

"What do you think it'd be like if your mother was still here?" asked Hornet.

"Well, she would dress Bo up properly, and be strict, but nice. She would make us hot breakfast every morning, and steaming meals at the end of the day. She would insist on tucking me in to bed at night despite my age, and she would smell of cool lavenders, and bread." Prosper inhaled deeply as though smelling his mother's scent. Hornet repeated the gesture,

"She must be beautiful. My mama, smelled like cinnamon, and spicy sweets. She looked kind of like me. She never cut her hair, or wore it up like the fancy ladies of her class did, because she enjoyed being free. She let her black waving hair down. Her blue eyes would stand out. Her lips were always rosy pink and ready to give me a kiss on the forehead, and her skin was milky white, fair, soft, beautiful."

Prosper smiled,

"So you must be identical to her, so fair and beautiful." Hornet felt herself grinning,

"I'm not that pretty really. I might be if I took better care of myself, but I have to take care of Riccio and Mosca most of my time, so there isn't much time to pay attention to myself. But I don't mind it really."

"Well now I'm here, I can help look out for Riccio and Mosca, so you can have your own time… you deserve it." Hornet blushed at these kind words, and nodded,

"That would be wonderful." They stopped at the gates of Barbarossa's shop, rang the bell, and walked in.

"Barbarossa…" Called Hornet. The stout, large man walked out,

"What is it?" He said in a dog-like voice.

"We have two packages for you." She presented them with a slightly shaking hand.

"Tell the Thief Lord I'll be in want of more Venice antiques."

Hornet nodded, and dashed out the door Prosper following her.

"Why is it you're so rushed to rid the place?" Asked Prosper.

"It gives me the creeps." So they continued walking… Hornet spotted a middle-aged man, he looked neither rich nor poor, but with his skinny physique and pointed mustache, it gave him the look of a criminal.

"Watch this." She nudged Prosper. She walked up to the man and began to make conversation with him,

"Hello sir, do you know what time it is, I'm supposed to see my mother at 4:00." The minute the unfortunate man bent down to check his pocket watch, Hornet grabbed his shirt, and began screaming bloody murder,

"Let go of me! Let go of me! Help!" A rush of people came about thinking the man was attacking the girl, and in all the rush, she scooted around to retrieve his wallet. By then, they had taken the man's hands behind his back, his wallet residing in Hornet's shirt. She acted hurt, and went off limping, until she met Prosper again. Once they rounded the corner back to the theater, she breathed a sigh of relief…

"It's one of my tricks, it helps us get the things we need.

"Hmm, poor man." Said Prosper.

"Don't worry, they'll sort it out with the police eventually. But the thing is I can never do it in the same area twice."

"Wow, that's talent." Whistled Prosper.

Nearing the theater, they stood before the entrance. Hornet paused before opening the door,

"I had a really nice time with you today… even if it was only delivering a package." Whether Prosper could read minds or not, he seemed to know she wanted warmth, and took her hands in his.

"Me too." Slowly they leaned in and pressed their lips together, they grew closer, and closer, eventually in a hug, and seemingly glued together. After a while, Hornet pulled away,

"Prosper… I think I love you." When she said those words, her feelings immediately turned inside out, kissing was one thing, but declaring love was a whole other field. Especially when you knew a person for only a short while. But Prosper seemed to not mind, as he put his hands on her waist and began to kiss her again.

Finally, they walked back into the theater, red, warm, and happy. Bo staggered up to Prosper, eyes red, and tired. Prosper took Bo up in his arms and nestled him into the cot. Hornet directed Riccio to sleep. Then she took her place on the floor so to give her bed to Prosper, but Prosper, instead lay himself down upon the floor, and gestured for Hornet to move onto the bed. Hornet smiled at him, and went up to her bed.

She was walking down the paved streets, dancing in her blue dress of long ago, hair braided, singing a song. She saw Prosper running towards her, and as he came closer, she saw, he started to look like an older version of Luca from before, but he maintained Prosper's voice. He bowed to her and the ran down the streets of Venice together, chasing each other, and all of a sudden, Hornet felt trapped in the middle of a large wall, and there was no way to win the game of chase. She eventually got tagged, and her opponent smiled, and she smiled an unsure smile herself…

Hornet sat up in bed. What a strange dream. It was unbelievable. She looked around as though expecting to see the walls trapping her, stretching her arms out she felt no such walls, but the feeling inside her chest cavity was tight and obstructed.

Riccio bounded off the next morning, "Hornet! I'm off to piiiiick-pockkkkkettttt." He sang out. It never ceased to amaze Prosper how the clan could so casually mention thievery, and pick pocketing. Hornet merely nodded and replied,

"Yeah I might go out later too, but Riccio take care not to make a big running fuss, you'll attract attention and more people shall look at you, therefore you would be a suspect if they were to attempt and identify you." She said with care in her voice for the younger boy. Riccio nodded, and swiftly took off, leaving a sleep engulfed Mosca, a wide-awake Hornet, a tuned out Bo, and a slightly stirring Prosper. Hornet stood up from her bed, and wrote out a note to leave for Prosper.

_Gon out, pic-pocketeeng, I'll bee bac soon. _

She took up a jacket for the blustery day, and set out. Figuring she had already tyrannized the North of Venice robbing them of all purses, wallets, and money, she strolled out to the South. The wind brushed her braid backwards, as her feet padded lightly against the stony paved ground. There were plenty of people out, making it easier for Hornet to be slightly more non-conspicuous. Scouting out another target, she directed her gaze to an older teenage boy, he was fiddling with his shoe tie. She made her way over to the boy, and "accidentally" knocked into him. Pulling her favorite technique, she clasped his shirt and began to yell.

"Anybody, Somebody!"

The teenage boy attempted to show the public that he was not harming the girl by raising his hands in the air, but the petite Hornet made sure he didn't by keeping her elbows in check with the crook of the boy's arms. Sure enough a large enough crowd gathered, and Hornet snaked one hand about to his back pocket where she found a bag of forty or so coins, as she could tell from the weight. She let the bag slide down into her coat pocket. Suddenly she felt a woman's hands upon her own.

"Little dear, don't worry you're safe now. You just need to go with the police to answer some questions about that bad boy over there."

Hornet's stomach somersaulted; this was not going according to plan. But worriedly, she followed the police, and the teenage boy who was now handcuffed and fairly confused as to what had just happened in the past five minutes. She was beckoned to sit on the wooden bench of the police station, the police giving her a warm reassuring smile, mean while; the "captive" was plunked down on the bench opposite of her. Hornet did not want to so much as look the older teenager in the eye, but as though a magic force was compelling her, she did so. Her watery blue eyes locked into his hardened sapphire ones. First caught in a moment of unreality, then the boy looked at her in a most peculiar fashion. The regarded each other as though it were the beginning of the long, suspicious tango. The police disappeared around the bend of the station to retrieve some papers.

"Sorry." Whispered Hornet, not knowing quite where to begin. The older boy shot her another cold glare.

"I don't have another way to survive." She tried making the boy see her side of the story.

"So you survive by throwing others in the lock up?" He snarled.

Hornet tried to decipher what other emotions he was feeling. The way his hair was wind blown to the left, and his legs were swinging and pushing against the bottom of the bench, gave Hornet a feeling as though she had been in a situation such as this, before.

"I have to survive too… I know what you took from me. It's not easy to pick pocket me, because I pick pocketed that from someone else. But maybe it's better in this prison… at least you get bread and water every day."

At this, Hornet began to cry, her emotions were overwhelming her. She hadn't realized until now, that there were more beggars, and pickpockets on the street that all want to survive, and it was a dog eat dog world… until then. How awful it made life seem. The teenager looked immensely startled by the reaction of the girl. Immediately, his voice heightened in alarm,

"It's okay, don't cry…" There wasn't much else he could say. But before he knew what else was happening, Hornet looked into his alarmed eyes, and threw herself on top of him, her arms enveloping his chest.

"Luca!" She wept harder, if anything, "Luca." She said again.

"Who are you? Get off me. Just don't cry." He cried in a perplexed tone. Hornet only pressed against him tighter,

"Luca, no. Don't make me let go. Please, just hold me. Tell me it'll be okay." Her tears were now turning his shirt into a soggy mess. Trying to disentangle her, he kept up a near hysterical flow of questions. Finally he pulled her arms from around himself, and pushed the younger adolescent's body, slightly backwards from his. He frowned, searching her eyes. Hornet's tears were coursing down and she was fairly screaming.

"Luca, it's me! It's Hornet!"

"I don't know a Hornet! Please, let me be." Cried Luca back with as much emphasis and emotion as Hornet herself. But Hornet would not be stilled.

"Look at me!" She took down her braid, "Look at me! Don't you remember! The orphanage! You promised to be my brother!" She dissolved into noisy tears, flinging herself back onto his shoulder.

Both of them tensed at the police's footsteps back to the room, but Hornet would not remove herself from the boy. As the police walked in Hornet made an attempt to stop the flowing tears.

"Hello little lady. Now could you please give me your whole name, and tell me everything that this boy did to you?"

Hornet gave a short nod, pausing to wipe some more tears.

"I'm Hornet, and…" She paused for a breath, "Sorry, there's been a complication. This is my cousin Nettle, but he has traveled a long distance. I haven't seen him since I was five, so it was awfully hard to remember him, and I got frightened when he pulled me into an embrace." Hornet breathed a sigh of relief.

The police nodded, and then smiled at the adolescent boy, removing the handcuffs, he chuckled, "sorry for the complications mister."

The boy nodded, and walked out of the station, Hornet trailing him so closely. She kept up her hysterical questions once they were clear out of sight of the station.

"Don't you remember me? Please! It's Hornet!" The boy turned around to face her, he wasn't much taller than she was,

"I don't know a Hornet."

"But Luca, you've got to know me." She put her hands on the sides of his face, and forced him to look directly into her eyes. "I will pretend, that I was a stolen princess, and they put me in a dungeon, and now I have to wait for my prince to come rescue me. Luca, you're going to be my prince, okay?" Hornet sniffed tearfully.

The words dawned on Luca as though by magic, and he smiled enigmatically, responding,

"Beautiful Caterina, I have come from afar to rescue you, your majesty."

Hornet smiled,

"You do remember. Whatever happened to you, why did you run away and leave me?" Asked Hornet with such a perplexed, hurt expression, it took Luca by surprise.

"I'm sorry, when they took you away to the hospital, I thought they'd never bring you back, so I ran off…" He sighed, "I wish I had not thought it out better, and waited to see if you'd return."

"It's all right, you were only but ten years old. I ran after you, when I came back, I tried to find you… I've been trying several years. I gave up after a while, but then Prosper told me about the magic of Venice, and it would lead me to you somehow… It's true!" She gasped, "There is magic in Venice!"

Luca gazed at the girl, curiously, "Prosper?" He questioned.

"He's a very close friend of mine, almost a lover I believe." Breathed Hornet, a slight rosy tinge crawling up to her cheeks.

Luca looked away, embarrassed for any of the thoughts he was having of this beautiful girl who now stood before him. So much more mature than when he last saw her. Back then, seven years old and ten years old, were such large age differences. But fourteen and seventeen were perfectly acceptable, and she was by far the loveliest creature he had ever seen. Her black wavy hair being caught up in the wind, rosy cheeks, snowy smooth skin, and sparkling blue eyes. How could he not think of her in a romantic nature? He tried to listen to what she was saying, but found most of it going in one ear and out the other as he gazed at her.

"So would you like to come to our theater to live for a while?" Asked Hornet, looking up at Luca. Luca's thoughts burst, as he looked down at her,

"That would be nice, if it isn't too much trouble."

"No trouble, as you know Prosper is new too, so I guess it won't hurt to have one more."

Luca nodded.

Upon entering the theater, Luca's eyes connected with Prosper's who was sitting on the bed reading a news column. Prosper gave a friendly hello.

"Hi, Hornet, who is this you've brought?" He asked.

"Prosper!" She said excitedly, "This is Luca!" Prosper smiled enthusiastically,

"See, the magic of Venice works for us all."

"I know." Hornet smiled once more, and gave Prosper a quick kiss.

"I'll leave you two, to do some catching up." With that, Prosper rounded back to his newspaper.

Hornet plopped herself onto the floor, as did Luca.

"So Luca, what happened once you ran away?" She questioned.

"Well being ten years old, and not knowing how to survive on my own, I relied on my little boy cute looks to make adults pity me, and take me in for a night, feed me, clothe me. But as I got older this charm of mine wore off, and I began turning more into a man. I had to fend for myself. Still not living in a proper home I tried to seek a job, but the shop keepers and merchants thinking I was a penniless scoundrel who would rob them, would not take me in. So In the end I resolved to full-fill their images as a penniless scoundrel who robbed them. I'm thinking I was fourteen around then, I'd resort to sleeping under sheds, and on the park benches. I disgusted myself, I was doing everything I hated… stealing, lying, cheating, going against principals, but I had to survive. I just had to. I was an orphan, if I died, not a single person would shed a tear for me… and I don't think I could have been able to bare that. Dying without being loved, and missed. So I continued, hoping I'd find someone, someone that would love me and I would love them too."

Hornet practically swooned at this sad story,

"Oh, Luca, I do love you." She gave him a tight friendly hug, he interpreted the gesture as otherwise, and took her chin in his hand and leaned in to kiss her, but she immediately jumped off, pushing him backwards.

"Not in that manner!" She cried in slight distress. Prosper immediately looked up from his paper,

"What is going on?" He inquired.

"Oh, nothing." Lied Hornet, and then to Luca she whispered, "Oh Luca, I love you so, but you promised to be my brother when we were younger. I love you like my own brother."

Luca looked helplessly at her,

"But you also said I was your prince…"

"That was just a fantasy, Luca."

"You were only seven, age differences mattered more than. The fact we pretended to be brother and sister were fantasy as well. Thoughts of young children. We're older now, couldn't our feelings change?"

Hornet felt like crying all over again, but she merely shook her head,

"No Luca, Please, love me like I'm your little sister, and nothing more."

"I can't help how I feel." He tried once more.

"The sad thing is… neither can I." She pressed herself towards Luca, "I'm your baby sister, nothing more, pretend, can't you pretend again?"

"No." Luca responded.

That night was one of the most uncomfortable nights in both the life of Hornet and Luca's. Hornet was fighting a wild battle with in her own mind,

_How can this be? I've only met him once more for twenty-four hours, and he is professing love. I love Prosper, no one else. It wouldn't be right. I love Luca like my older brother… do I? Yes I do. No, he's so handsome… but so is Prosper. I like Prosper. But look at how helpless Luca is, look at him. How can one not love him? But… I do love him… a sibling love. To Prosper I give a lover's love. No, yes, no, yes… _

"I don't know my own thoughts anymore!" She screamed in the middle of the night, sitting up quickly in bed in a dream like state. This woke everyone up. Riccio peered at her with curiosity, Mosca looked worried. Luca and Prosper both rushed over to her bed side.

"Are you okay?" They questioned in unison.

"Yes, no, I don't know!" She sobbed out, "I've never felt this way in my life! I think I'm sick… no I'm going to be sick…" She vomited all over the theater carpet, a rancid acidic smell wafting upwards. She looked shocked, and paralyzed a moment,

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She whispered.

"It's fine, I'll clean it up." Said Luca.

"I'm sorry." She said once more.

"Don't worry." He patted her on the back.

"I said I'm sorry!" She screamed out.

Everyone jumped back at the volume she screamed at.


End file.
